Fox’s Pete Hegseth Laughs at Refugees Fleeing Their Homes Because of Climate Change

Pete Hegseth, a meathead, was the male guest on Wednesday’s episode of Outnumbered, where in the space of about two minutes he managed to mock climate refugees and be galactically wrong about an issue. So a normal day for him.

The panel was discussing the crisis at the southern border when Melissa Francis dragged Fox’s favorite bogeyman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, into the conversation by citing a recent tweet:

The far-right loves to drum up fear & resistance to immigrants.

But have you ever noticed they never talk about what‘s causing people to flee their homes in the first place?

Perhaps that’s bc they’d be forced to confront 1 major factor fueling global migration:

Climate change. https://t.co/zyJzTjEgHt

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 9, 2019

Francis then mentioned that Harf has cited climate change as a factor in the ongoing civil war in Syria as well. Harf, who worked as a senior advisor on Middle East issues to John Kerry when he was Secretary of State in the Obama administration, said “There’s a lot of evidence. The Department of Defense will tell you this, that the number of migrants on the world being forced to flee their homes because of climate change…”

Hegseth broke in with a loud laugh. This infuriated Harf, who broke into a litany of all the reasons Hegseth should not be so dismissive. Those included the fact that the DoD, where he once worked, agrees with her; that there is “hard evidence” that in some parts of the world, people are being forced out of their homes because of drought and rising sea levels, among other reasons. She concluded by telling Hegseth that she had four years of experience studying this very issue, and “It’s a real thing and you shouldn’t laugh at it.”

“I am laughing at it,” Hegseth responded.

After some more back and forth, Hegseth listed all the other reasons, such as corrupt governments and war, why refugees are fleeing places such as Syria and Central America. “And you want to talk about climate change,” he practically hollered. “That’s so missing the mark.”

Harf was not saying climate change was the only motivation driving refugees, just one of them. For that matter, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t blame only climate change either. But conservatives like Hegseth don’t believe in it at all, as John Kerry was reminded again yesterday, and are not open to any arguments that would even consider the possibility.

Watch the clip at the top of the post, via Fox News.